Naguib — It sure is, because Ya Ali Madad, unlike greetings like hi, good-morning, etc. is not merely a polite and courteous way to acknowledge another Ismaili’s presence. It is a Tasbih and a prayer.

It’s a Tasbih because we remember Allah and we remember Hazar Imam. At the same time, it is also a prayer asking for the help of Allah and Mawlana Hazar Imam.

Ayaz — It’s amazing but I’ve never heard of these greetings before. It’s almost embarassing to admit that such beautiful traditions exist in our culture, and yet I’ve never heard of them.

Naguib — But haven’t your parents ever mentioned this to you?

Ayaz — No. All mum says is, ‘Bye, take care’ when I go out and ‘Hello’ when I come in. When I go to bed, it’s ‘Goodnight’ with a kiss. Come to think of it mum never says Ya Ali Madad to her friends either. It’s always ‘Hi Jenny’ and ‘Hi Sakar’.

Naguib — It’s very sad to hear that we ignore our traditions. I guess it’s alright to say ‘Hi’ and Hello’ to non-Ismaili and non-Muslim friends. But I do feel that we ought to use As-salaam-alaykum and Ya Ali Madad when greeting Muslim and Ismaili friends.

Don’t you think it would be nice to say Ya Ali Madad before leaving for school, then again on returning from school, and finally when going to bed? And parents could say Mawla Ali Madad, i.e. ‘May Mawla Ali help you’ rather than ‘Take care of yourself’.

Ayaz — Yes it would, because then we know that Hazar Imam’s help is always available to us. Mum and dad will be really surprised to night when I say Ya Ali Madad instead of ‘Goodnight’.

I’ll surprise Mahmud, my Muslim friend at school tomorrow, too.

Naguib – I bet they’ll be amazed!

Ayaz — How come you know all this. Did your parents tell you?

Naguib — Yes, and I also learn a great deal by attending religious classes which teach us about our ethics, faith and culture. I suggest you enrol at your nearest centre and benefit from the material that we learn there.

Ayaz — Great, I’ll get my mum to enrol me. I’m glad I met you today and you said Ya Ali Madad. I wouldn’t have learnt all this if you’d just wished me ‘Hi’.

Naguib — Well, I’m glad you see the beauty and importance of our tradition. It’s also nice to know that you’ll start attending the classes.

Ayaz – Yes, I’ll make a point of attending the classes. Thank you very much for being so patient and explaining all this to me.

The above reading is a revised version of a religious dialogue prepared by Alwaeza Maleksultan Merchant while she taught Baitul Ilm in London, England. The dialogue was presented on numerous occasions by her students at their respective religious education centres and Jamatkhanas in the Greater London Area. The dialogue was first published in the 1977 Navroz issue (Volume 2, Numbers 3 & 4) of Ilm magazine – Ed

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20 thoughts on “The Traditional Ismaili Greeting “Ya Ali Madad””

I just read this wonderful article. The meaning of YA ALI MADAD is not the only lesson that should be taught. When I recently gave some duashish to a young memeber of jamat, they replied ‘thank you’ instead of saying Amen.

I think it is not only the responsibility of the teachers of bait-ul-ilm but also that of the parents to teach the correct responses.

You’ll be surprised if I tell you that I greeted 5 children under the age of 8 yrs in Jamatkhana and after unsatisfactory responses, I asked them & surprisingly 4 of them told me that they have never been told about this greeting in the ITREB classes that they are attending every Saturday. Is it true?

Ya Ali Madad to all Ismailis,
I am not surprised that some of our Ismaili brothers and sisters do not know or use Ya Ali Madad. As for me I personally know that. I was born and grew up in Tajikistan, where religion was forbidden during the Soviet Times. It has only been 20 years now that everything is open for us. Thus we started using the salutation openly only recently. Many things were brought to our attention by Professor Ali Muhammad Rajput, one of the first representatives of Hazar Imam who told us in 1990s who we were. Though our grandparents knew a lot about our faith, we were afraid to talk about it openly.

Those of Arabic tradition will be heard responding “Mawlana Ali Madad” and NOT “Mawla Ali Madad”. The explanation is very straight forward. Mawlana means My Lord, rather than saying Mawla which just means Lord. In this respect, you acknowledge the recognition of Mawlana Ali as your Mawla.

Alwaeza Mrs. MalekSultan has been teaching for many many years. She has not reduced her fervour to teach young Ismailis and may Mowla give her long life to continue her dedication. One point worth knowing for me would be when and how the Ismaili Greeting became established. A little history would make the teaching complete.

Very good article indeed. It is to be noted that most of the programming in Eastern Countries is now influenced by Western culture and traditions. It becomes imperative for parents, especialy those with children, to implement in their homes traditions that have Muslim and Ismaili values. Considering that so much importance is now being placed on early childhood education, what children gain in their early years will be remembered by them in years to come. Congratulations for a fine piece.